Abstract

Dengue fever is an important arthropod-borne disease which is transmitted by the mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. Vector control programs rely heavily on targeting the mosquito vector in order to stop the disease transmission cycle. Hence, the present study conducted a fine-scale population genetics of Ae. aegypti in a highly urbanized and dengue endemic region in the Philippines. Furthermore, the study also explored the correlation of population genetic indices to the local dengue incidence of the region. The genetic diversity and population structure of Ae. aegypti populations were analyzed by genotyping 11 microsatellite loci from 526 adult mosquitoes sampled in 21 study areas in Metropolitan Manila. Five genetic indices and its dengue incidence were then correlated using Pearsons correlation. Results showed low genetic differentiation among mosquito populations indicating high gene flow activity in the region. However, the study also revealed a considerable number of inferred genetic clusters (K=5). The constructed UPGMA dendrogram exhibited close proximity of genetically-similar Ae. aegypti mosquito populations that extends in long distances suggesting passive dispersal ability of the mosquito vector. Moreover, a positive and significant correlation was observed between dengue incidence and inbreeding coefficient (Fis) (r = 0.52, p = 0.02). Overall, the study showed that population genetic structuring can occur in a fine-scale area which consisted notable clustering and extending patterns of genetically-similar mosquito populations. This infers the potential migration ability of Ae. aegypti in different locations of the region where specific vector control zones could be carried out to disrupt its dispersal ability. Also, this is the first study that attempted to correlate genetic indices to dengue incidence that could serve as a supplementary index in identifying high dengue risk areas in the future.

Copyright

The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.